Garden Reports and Rejoicing – July 22
We arrived home from Italy to find an outbreak of weeds and beans. Crabgrass, purslane and carpetweed have not only appeared in the ten days we’ve been gone, but they’ve all grown to dinner plate size plants in that time. It’s as if someone has thrown weed bombs all around the garden that have exploded instantly into huge plants.
The first day back, however, we ignored the weeds and focused on the beans. As vegetable gardeners know, beans really need to be picked every two or three days. Frequent harvesting not only catches them when they are small and tender, but stimulates the production of more flowers as well. The only thing that produces as quickly in the veggie garden is the summer squash, and we’re on the cusp of harvesting dozens of those as well.
We ate the first tomatoes over the weekend, had a salad with greens, beans, and steamed baby Zephyr squash last night. This morning I got up early and weeded in Annual Alley and this afternoon I canned 12 jars of pickled green beans. I remind myself that the weeds are just the “other side of the coin” of garden productivity. It is summer in all its fullness.
If you want to feel wealthy, plant a vegetable garden.
I only wish the purple beans would stay that same color after cooking.
